Rapid Reaction Game 4: Heat 88, Bulls 65

MVP (Most Valuable Player): LeBron James did what an MVP does. He recorded 27 points (9-20), seven rebounds, eight assists and two steals. The Bulls as a team recorded just 12 assists, although Chicago only had 19 baskets—so not many chances to get an assist.

LVP (Least Valuable Player): No one player earned this. It should go to the entire Bulls team. They started 1-12 from the field, were even worse in the third quarter (more on this in the next section) and put up some historically bad numbers. Nobody shot well for the Bulls, who went 25.7 percent from the floor. Nate Robinson did go 0-12 from the field, so only a handful of people in history shot worse than him. We really shouldn’t be surprised that Nate came crashing back down to earth.

Defining Moment: The nine points in the entire third quarter are probably a pretty good summary for this game. The Bulls went 2-13 from the field in the third frame, or 15.4 percent. They also turned it over seven times for good measure.

X factor: The Bulls point guards score scored more points for Miami (two), than for Chicago (zero). Shout out to Adam Reisinger for pointing this out. Marquis Teague tipped in a pass on defense to score two points for the Heat, but went 0-2 at the end he was actually supposed to score. That was nothing compared to Nate Robinson’s 0-12, though.

That Was … history: The Bulls set franchise records for fewest points and lowest field goal percentage in a playoff game. Their nine third quarter points were also a franchise low for the postseason. It was the worst shooting percentage for a playoff team since 2004 (Hornets, 24.4 percent). The Bulls worst playoff field goal percentage coming into tonight was 31.1 percent against Detroit in 1990.

In short, that was one of the worst playoff performances ever. At least he Bulls have an excuse of being injured. This very long, frustrating season could have just one game remaining, as the series heads back to Miami.

About Braedan Ritter

Braedan joined Bulls by the Horns in 2010 and has been with the site since. You can follow Braedan on the Bulls by the Horns official account at @BullsbytheHorns

Yes, the UC crowd is always terrible, full of suburbanites and yuppies who can afford seats. It’s pathetic that Nate and Joakim have to be so demonstrative to fire up the crowd (Korver had some great line last year about how the crowd only gets loud for certain non-basketball things, like the donut race). The building doesn’t help; the sound has always been oddly muffled and muted.

As badly as they played, this game stayed winnable a lot longer than Game 2 did. And while this series seems over, you can’t count on anything with this bunch. Some sort of resurgence in Game 5 is still possible.

Yeah the crowd is pathetic … sometimes you feel that you’re the awkward one because you actually got excited and cheered … I wish there was a way to shame and substitute fans mid-game. Like a waiting list of people that will take your spot if you aren’t looking like you want to be there … They all need to watch a few Memphis, OKC, Golden State, or even Knicks games and realize how worthless they can be. … Once Rose is back next season there will be a bunch of fans again that dropped deuces on the Bulls this whole year instead of going and supporting our team … they are all pride-less bums that can’t even wear a red shirt (even when they GIVE you one) … that’s the least you can do if you are going to show your heartless face in that stadium.

YEAH heat fans are ONLY LOUD now that the heaet have been WINNING AS OF LATE, yall TAKE A LOOK at the UC CROWD now that CROWD has ALWAYS been a MADHOUSE ON MADISON NO MATTER EVEN if the BULLS are not WINNING THANK YOU VERY MUCH, NUFF SAID to yall BULL-HATING BANDWAGON heat fanatics.GO BULLS!!!!!!